“I can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” says Miles Coon from his home in Delray Beach. “Well, I can and I can’t.”
Coon, founder of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, likes to say that poetry “is the most human form of expression and spans all cultures and eras.” And for a decade, he’s been running a week of literary activity that shows just what that means.
Beginning Monday, the festival returns to its home in Delray, where this year’s special guest will be the current U.S. poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey.
“We began with four poets — Billy Collins, Thomas Lux, Patricia Smith and Sharon Olds — at Lynn University in a partnership with the Poets of the Palm Beaches,” Coon said.
At that time, the festival boasted 48 workshops and 250 attendees. The following year, the festival invited eight poets and sold out for the second year in a row.
This year’s festival has nine workshops and 140 poets from all over the world, including Vancouver, the United Kingdom and even Qatar.
“It’s a huge amount of work,” says Coon, “but hugely rewarding. Our lineup this year is mind-blowing.”
Coming back for the 10th season is Lux, an award-winning poet and teacher at Georgia Tech who recently published two new books, A Child Made of Sand, a collection of poetry, and a non-fiction book of articles titled From The Southland, about his experiences with fire eating, hypnosis and taxidermy.
“The conference is serious stuff. I like the intensity of the festival,” says Lux, who will be teaching a number of craft workshops. “Miles really delivers. That’s why it’s so successful — it’s the equivalent of two-thirds of a graduate semester.
“He brings in very experienced faculty and poets for a better price than an MFA program. The students receive a lot in a short time,” he said. “They are serious adults who work 12-14 hours a day and are ready to buckle down and work on their craft.”
Also returning this year is performance poet Taylor Mali.
Mali is both a participant and a performer. A former teacher turned full-time performance poet, Mali says, “Poetry dragged me out of the classroom kicking and screaming.”
Mali gives credit to Coon for including performance poets in the festival, although he admits he’d like to see more focus on performance poetry.
“Ever since the inception of the festival, with Patricia Smith, Miles has included us. I’m grateful for this,” he says.
“Don’t shy away from the entertainment quality of poetry,” Mali says. “The task of the poet is to entertain, instruct and delight. Come with your friends, get a glass of wine and enjoy the spoken word.”
Regina Colonia Willner, a poet with a Ph.D. in neuroscience, is a returning participant to the festival.
A native of Brazil who was educated in Paris, Willner’s book, Canção para o Totem (Song for the Totem), won Brazil’s Jabuti Prize, the country’s equivalent to the Pulitzer.
What keeps her returning to the festival each year?
“The high level of the workshops brings me back,” Willner said. “I was thrilled to present my poems and work in composition with poets Jane Hirshfield, Stephen Dobyns, Stuart Dischell, Thomas Lux, Campbell McGrath, and Laure-Anne Bosselaar.”
“Miles is great and the festival a great way to forge literary connections,” says Willner.
What’s in store for the festival over the next ten years?
Coon, who celebrates his 76th birthday during the festival, is already thinking about a nationwide search for a successor.
“We have a brand and a name,” he says. “And having Trethewey, a national treasure, participate this year is an imprimatur for the festival.
“I hope it runs for another 10 years,” Coon says.
The 10th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival runs Jan. 20-25 and is based at the Crest Theatre building in the Delray Beach Center for the Arts. Workshops will be conducted by poets Nick Flynn, Carolyn Forché, Linda Gregg, Thomas Lux, Campbell McGrath, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Mary Ruefle, and Tim Seibles. Additional featured poets include Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Chard deNiord, and performance poets Taylor Mali and Glenis Redmond.
Other poetry projects include: The Alzheimer’s Poetry Project at Sunrise Nursing Homes, Bards of a Feather poetry group at Green Cay Nature Center and the High School Performance Poetry Project at Spanish River and Wellington high schools hosted by poet Blaise Allen.
For more information or to buy tickets to public events, please visit: http://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/